Guest Column: Giants' Cruz returns to where it all began

For Victor Cruz, Sunday night's Giants/Eagles game won't feel like any of the previous 17 games he's started in his NFL career.

It will be different because tonight he returns to the place "where the Victor Cruz story originated," he said with a big smile the other day.

Not only did the Victor Cruz story take off at Lincoln Financial Field, so did the salsa touchdown dance he made famous last season on the way to a record-setting 1,536-yard year that helped the Giants win the Super Bowl.

"That game just gave me so much confidence, and really got me going because it was my first NFL start," said the kid from Paterson who went from an unknown free agent receiver to something of a folk hero among Giants fans almost overnight.

The only two-touchdown game of his rookie season began with a catch in the slot he would turn in to a 74-yard score. A touchdown that came only after he sprinted to the sideline and on his way to the end zone ran through two tackle attempts.

The second was a futile effort by Philly's newly-acquired All-Pro cornerback Nnamdi Asomugha, who would get beaten by Cruz again later in the game - only that time in the end zone for a 28-yard touchdown that would put the G-Men ahead for good, 22-16, after the Eagles had run off 16 straight.

Cruz, who got the start only because Mario Manningham wasn't healthy, would go on to have the first of seven 100-plus yardage games and become the NFL's newest sensation.

Quarterback Michael Vick, who didn't finish that 29-16 Giants win because of injury and didn't dress for the November rematch at MetLife Stadium the Eagles won, remembers the reaction Cruz's breakout game caused among the Eagles.

"Victor Cruz came on the scene that day, unfortunately against us where he kind of made his name in that NFL," Vick said earlier in the week. :

"That's what guys often do. They seize the moment, seize the opportunity. He's turned out to be a fine football player," said Vick.

Although Cruz caught only two of Eli Manning's throws that day - two went for TDs.

Manning remembers the reaction he had watching Cruz that day at The Linc.

"You saw his playmaking ability. Going up to get balls, breaking tackles, just having the ability," recalled the Giants' QB. "You think 'we've got to give this guy an opportunity to get the ball in his hands, because he can make guys miss and make some big plays for us."

Cruz would do that time and again last season, and has picked up where he left off with 23 catches in three starts already this season for 279 yards.

Tonight he is back at The Linc where Eagles fans will be taunting him, unlike his last visit there when nobody knew him.

"I'll always remember that game, not just because of the touchdowns, but all the texts and e-mails I got after.

"I felt I just needed an opportunity. To be given one in that game was huge for me in my own personal sense. To do good things in that game and to really come out. It was a great feeling and I used that momentum going forward the rest of the season."

He knows tonight he won't be overlooked by the Eagles' secondary as he was a year ago.

"I just try to keep my route-running at the highest level I possibly can, make sure I get out of my cuts quickly and that I'm reading defenses correctly. It's something I keep working on every practice.

"It's good to be going back there to where it all started. There's been a lot of salsa since that first time. Maybe we can have some more this Sunday."